Here’s a roundup of a couple former Michigan players. NOTE: I will not regularly post updates about offensive linemen since stats are minimal and just posting PFF grades is kind of boring, but I did this week just to show who’s playing where and what their opening day role was.
FORMER PLAYERS
OG Amir Herring (Kansas): Herring started at left guard in a 31-7 win over Fresno State. He’s listed as a 6’3″, 305 lb. redshirt sophomore.
QB Alex Orji (UNLV): Orji had an up-and-down performance in a 38-31 win over Idaho State. Listed as a co-starter with Virginia transfer Anthony Colandrea, Orji completed 3/3 passes for 37 yards. However, he also fumbled as he was going into the end zone on UNLV’s opening drive, turning the ball over to Idaho State for a touchback. However however, he also scored the game-winning touchdown on an 11-yard run to make it 37-31 (38-31 after the extra point), with Colandrea playing most of the game following the fumble. Colandrea went 15/21 for 193 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions, and he ran 13 times for 93 yards.
Alex Orji fumbles right at the goal line on UNLV’s opening drive and Idaho State recovers in the end zone 😳 pic.twitter.com/1jwrfjjs3R
The 2026 Under Armour All-American Game will be played in January of 2026. The following participants have committed to or signed paperwork to play for Michigan:
2025
Kaden Strayhorn, C – Bradenton, FL
2024
Jeremiah Beasley, LB – Belleville, MI
2023
Karmello English, WR – Phenix City, AL
Amir Herring, C – West Bloomfield, MI
2022 Will Johnson, CB – Grosse Pointe, MI
Derrick Moore, DE – Baltimore, MD Keon Sabb, S – Bradenton, FL
Amorion Walker, WR – Ponchatoula, LA
2021
Giovanni El-Hadi, OT – Sterling Heights, MI
Jaydon Hood, LB – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
2020
Blake Corum, RB – Baltimore, MD
Micah Mazzccua, OT – Baltimore, MD
Braiden McGregor, DE – Port Huron, MI#
Andre Seldon, Jr., CB – Belleville, MI
2019
Zach Charbonnet, RB – Thousand Oaks, CA
Quinten Johnson, S – Washington, DC
Trente Jones, OT – Loganville, GA
Nolan Rumler, OG – Akron, OH
Mazi Smith, DT – East Kentwood, MI
Anthony Solomon, LB – Fort Lauderdale, FL
2018
Mustapha Muhammad, TE – Missouri City, TX
Myles Sims, CB – Atlanta, GA
2017
Jaylen Kelly-Powell, S – Detroit, MI
Kwity Paye, DE – Warwick, RI
Cesar Ruiz, C – Bradenton, FL
Luiji Vilain, DE – Alexandria, VA
Andrel Anthony, WR (Oklahoma Duke): Anthony had injury issues over his time in Norman and made just 1 catch for 4 yards this past season. He transferred to Duke after the season.
Jeremiah Beasley, LB (Missouri): Beasley made 7 tackles while playing in eleven games as a freshman.
Tristan Bounds, OT (Arizona): Bounds played just one offensive snap for Michigan this year and transferred to Arizona after the season.
2023 Starters: LT La’Darius Henderson, LG Trevor Keegan, C Drake Nugent, RG Zak Zinter, RT Karsen Barnhart Losses: Barnhart (NFL), Henderson (NFL), Trente Jones (NFL), Keegan (NFL), Nugent (NFL), Zinter (NFL) Returning players: Myles Hinton (RS Sr.), Jeffrey Persi (RS Sr.), Raheem Anderson (RS Jr.), Tristan Bounds (RS Jr.), Greg Crippen (RS Jr.), Giovanni El-Hadi (RS Jr.), Dominic Giudice (RS Jr.), Andrew Gentry (RS So.), Connor Jones (RS So.), Nathan Efobi (RS Fr.), Amir Herring (RS Fr.), Evan Link (RS Fr.) Newcomers: Josh Priebe (RS Sr.), Blake Frazier (Fr.), Jake Guarnera (Fr.) Projected starters: LT Hinton, LG El-Hadi, C Crippen, RG Priebe, RT Persi
Michigan went from having a terrible offensive line under Brady Hoke to a decent offensive line at the beginning of the Harbaugh era to one of the best in the country at the end of Harbaugh’s tenure. In two of Harbaugh’s final three seasons, Michigan won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the country; in the third season, they lost the award but won a national championship. And now most of the key pieces to those awards and accomplishments are either in the NFL or heading there soon.
Much like the quarterback position, nobody really has a great idea of how the position group will shake out. Will it be as good as it was in 2021-2023? That’s unlikely. Could it still be a solid conglomeration? Sure. Four of the starters above (Hinton, El-Hadi, Crippen, and Persi) were 4-star prospects or better, and the only 3-star (Priebe) is a multi-year starter coming from Northwestern. Furthermore, they are all veteran players in at least their fourth year of college.
At offensive tackle, Hinton started one-third of the season before ceding his spot to Barnhart in 2023, so he seems like the most likely to start. On the right side, it could be a battle between Persi and Gentry. Both have looked somewhat rough in limited time, but Persi has two years of experience on Gentry, whose footwork still looked pretty sloppy in 2023.
At the guard positions, El-Hadi is another player who has some starting experience a couple seasons ago as an injury fill-in, so he seems likely to slide right in this season. Priebe is a veteran starting presence who should be able to fend off most contenders, if not all of them.
Word coming out of Ann Arbor about Crippen has been that he’s a potential All-American, but he’s just been blocked by two really good players in Olu Oluwatimi and Nugent over the past couple years. I have some doubts because I’m not sure why the coaching staff would recruit over him if he was that good, but he’s also two years older now than he was when Oluwatimi swooped in, so perhaps his improvement in that time has been significant.
Despite losing six offensive linemen to the draft, Michigan goes into spring with 15 other scholarship linemen on the roster. That’s somewhat mind-boggling to consider, since a team might have carried just 13 linemen a few years ago. In that bygone era of like 2019, we would be looking at 7 returning players and 6 true freshmen arriving sporadically in January and then June. Instead, there are 12 returning players, a transfer, and 2 early enrollee freshmen available for the spring, not to mention further reinforcements arriving this summer.
Some projected backups to keep an eye on are Raheem Anderson, who was reportedly ahead of Crippen early in their careers but has since appeared to be more of a factor at guard; Gentry, who could potentially start at tackle over Persi; and Herring, who’s a powerful offensive guard option that looked good in the spring game in 2023. Aside from Gentry possibly starting, Anderson and Herring are almost certainly backups for this season. Another players I’ll also be watching closely is Tristan Bounds, a behemoth of a player whose balance has been questionable in limited field time.
Name: Amir Herring Height: 6’3″ Weight: 305 lbs. High school: West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield Position: Offensive guard Class: Freshman Jersey number: #56 Last year: Herring was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 85 pancake blocks. TTB Rating: 73
Herring was a long-time Michigan lean who at one point seemed unlikely to end up in Michigan’s class. How is that possible? Well, it seemed at times like Michigan was not pursuing Herring heavily, even though he was offered on July 1, 2020 (today’s the three-year anniversary!). Pegged as a tackle early in his recruitment, his lack of height eventually led to him being ranked as an interior lineman. Word on the street was that Michigan wasn’t really sold on taking him unless he was open to playing center, but once that was ironed out, he became a take.
Herring enrolled early back in January and participated in the spring game, where he started for one squad at right guard. He performed well, and he has a college-ready build at 6’3″ and 305 lbs. Whether he can hold up at guard or will eventually have to slide over to center once a spot opens remains to be seen: Drake Nugent, Greg Crippen, and Raheem Anderson are all older with the ability to play center. For now Herring might be the most college ready offensive lineman in the class, but with the depth on the line, he may still be buried. My guess is that he plays in a few early-season games, but not enough to burn his redshirt.
online pharmacy buy clomid no prescription pharmacy
